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Introducing Hideaki Fukada

Head Chef Hideaki Fukada, from Yokohama of the Kanto region in Japan, brings with him a wealth of culture and knowledge to Sasuki. Fukada has a great love for occasion and the harmony of food, alcohol and conversation. Fukada has a strong connection to the seasonality and locality of food. In Japan, the seasonality of food sits central to cooking and our menu reflects these changes in availability. Every visit to Sasuki will be unique and memorable. Read in his words a little more about his story.

“I started being interested in learning Japanese cooking at a shop that my grandpa managed. I stayed there for 3 years, and I became a chef! With Japanese cooking, the first thing you start from is how to clean ingredients. But actual cooking starts with grilling. Around this time you also learn fish skewers and other things like that. At En Toriciya we sell foods cooked with charcoal.

Cooking Japanese outside of Japan is quite restricted by the ingredients. Now I bear in mind to always keep in touch with people from my home town. That’s because they can tell me about ingredients I wasn’t aware of. Sometimes there’s even surprisingly good combinations in cooking that you wouldn’t think of. Finding new things is exciting, and I’m glad I can receive such happiness from these things.

The Australian way of enjoying alcohol as a sensation is wonderful also. There’s a custom of having good taste for wine, and a harmony between cooking and alcohol is valued. With that in mind, more than Japanese people, I feel there’s a lot of Australians who have a lot of fun with sake. And now with globalisation, it’s getting easier to gain access to Japanese ingredients.

I encourage diners to ask questions to the waiters and waitresses. What kind of food it is, and what ingredients are used, if you ask them they’ll answer you. With lots of communication, you’ll be able to enjoy the food so much more.